Valerie Gonzalez

Name: Valérie GONZALEZ
Nationality: French (US Permanent Resident)
Current address: 21 Collingham Place, Flat 1, SW5 OQF, London, UK
Tel.: 44 (0) 207 594 3634
E-mail: [email protected]
Education (in France)
1989 Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Human Sciences, University of Aix-en-Provence
Department of Islamic and Arabic Studies
Specialty: History of Islamic Art and Civilization
Dissertation on the history of enameled metalwork in Islamic Spain and North Africa (original
title: “Origines, développement et diffusion de l'émaillerie sur métal en Occident musulman”
1985 Master Degree in Art History, University of Aix-en-Provence
Department of Art History and Archaeology
1985 M.F.A. National Superior Degree in Artistic Expression (Diplôme National Supérieur
d'Expression Plastique) School of Fine Arts and Architecture of Marseille-Luminy
Specialty: visual arts and painting (artistic practice in studio, training in contemporary art and
theory of art)
1992 Degree in Arabic Language, University of Aix-en-Provence
Languages: French (native speaker), English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic
Awards, Fellowships and Scholarships
2013, April, fellowship, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck-Institut, Florence
2012 Affiliated researcher, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University
Summer 2011, Member of Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College, Dublin
2001 Visiting Scholar, Getty Research Institute, J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles
1998 Fellowship, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge
1996 / 1997 Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton,
2004 Eisenstein Prize for the article: “The Comares Hall in the Alhambra and James Turrell’s
Space that Sees: A comparison of Aesthetic Phenomenology”, in Muqarnas, An Annual on the
Visual Culture of the Islamic World, 20, Harvard University, Brill, Leyden, 2003, p. 253-278
The Eisenstein Prize, established in 1993 and named for Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein,
Professor of History at American University (1959-1974) and the University of Michigan
(1975-1988), is biannually awarded by the National Coalition of Independent Scholars (NCIS)
for the best article published by a member within the last two years.
1990-1994 Associate Researcher, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre
Interuniversitaire d'Histoire et d'Archéologie Médiévales, University Lumière Lyon II, and
Maison de la Méditerranée et des Sciences de l’Homme (MMSH), Aix-en-Provence
1994-1995 One-year Scholarship at the French Institute of Arabic Studies in Damascus (Institut
Français d'Etudes Arabes de Damas, IFEAD), Syria
1993 French-Egyptian scholarship awarded by French Foreign Ministry, Paris
Arabic classes at the French Cultural Center, Cairo
1985-1988 Three-year-scholarship awarded by the CNRS/University of Aix-en-Provence, for
the preparation of the Ph.D. dissertation
Teaching Appointments and Experience
2012 Visiting Faculty, Stanford University, Department of Art and Art History,
Graduate seminar: Art and Theory in Islam: Visual Concepts and Aesthetic Paradigms
Undergraduate course I: Medieval Islamic Art and Architecture from 7th century Arabia to the
Conquest of Cairo in 1517
Undergraduate seminar: Visuality, Representation, and Material Culture in Islam
Undergraduate course II: Islamic Art and Architecture in the Modern Empires of the Ottomans,
the Safavids and the Mughals, 15th-19th century
2010 Visiting Faculty, Aga Khan University-Institute for the Study of Islamic Civilisations,
London
Upper level course: Visual Concepts and Aesthetic Paradigms in Muslim Arts and Architecture
In the USA:
2008-2009 University of Richmond, Visiting Faculty, Art and Art History Department
Survey of Western Art II, History of Islamic Art, Late Antique and Early Christian Art, History
of Chinese Art
2007-2008 Savannah College of Art and Design, GA, Professor of Art History
Survey of Western Art; Survey of Asian Art (India, China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan)
2006 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Spring course: History of Islamic Art and Visual Culture
2004-2005 Clark University, Worcester MA
First semester: History of Asian Arts (China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan)
Second semester: History of Islamic Art and Visual Culture
In France:
1989-2002 School of Architecture of Marseille-Luminy, Centre Habitat et Developpement
History of Islamic Urbanism and Architecture
Graduate seminars: History of Arabic Cities in North Africa and the Middle East, and History
of Islamic Architecture
1995-1996 University of Aix-en-Provence
Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies
Introductory courses: History of Islamic Art and Architecture from the Origins to the 14th
Century; History of Islamic Art in the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires
1994-1996 Superior Institute of Art (Institut Supérieur de l'Art), Marseille
Undergraduate course: History of Islamic Art and Architecture, 8th-13th Century
University of Aix-en-Provence:
Department of Visual Arts and Sciences of Art
Undergraduate course: Survey on History of Medieval Art
Department of Art History and Archaeology
Survey on History of Islamic Art and Architecture
Seminars-Lectures-Interdisciplinary Conferences (Since 2004)
May 24 2012, Stanford University, Department of Art and Art History,
“Solomon’s Glass Palace in Qur’an 44:27 (Soura al-Naml) As Aesthetic Paradim”
May 3 2012, Stanford University, Department of French and Italian, Medieval and Early
Modern Workshop, “Aesthetic Hybridity in Mughal Painting: The Example of Jahangir Sitting
on an Hourglass by Bichitr (c. 1620)”
April 19 2012, Stanford University, Abassi Program for Islamic Studies, Workshop Series on
Islamic Art and Architecture, “Aesthetic Connection versus Cultural Differentiation:
Comparing Islamic and Western Art”
October 11-13 2011, Casa Arabe, Cordoba, Spain, Conference “Islam and the Visual:
Representation - Image – Discourse”
“Confronting Images, Confronted Images: Jahangir Versus King James I in the Freer Gallery
Mughal group portrait by Bichitr (c. 1620)”
July 4-8 2010, 20th EASAA Conference (European Association for South Asian Archaeology
and Art), University of Vienna
“Understanding Hybridity in Mughal Painting: Jahangir Seated on an Houglass by Bichitr (c.
1620)”
June 28 2010, Aga Khan University-Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London
“The Perception of Muslims in the Christian Poetry of the Romanceros Fronterizos” in
Medieval and Pre-Modern Spain”
October 21 2009, University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture
“Solomon’s Glass Palace in Qur’an 44/ XXVII as a Paradigm of Ornament”
October 17 2009, Kyoto Notre Dame University
“From East To West, A glimpse at Islamic Art and Architecture”
October 16 2009, The University of Kyoto, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics
Special Colloquium, “Aesthetic Phenomenology of an 18th Century Figurative Calligraphy,
Museum of Raqqada (Tunisia)”
October 8-12 2009, Corum (Turkey), International Symposium, Islam and the City (board
advisor and keynote speaker)
“A Certain Idea of the City in Ibn Khaldun’s Al-Muqqadima (14th century)”
December, 22, 2009, University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture
“Aesthetic Connection versus Cultural Differentiation: Comparing Islamic and Western Art”
July 2008 University of Munich, Germany, Art History Department
"Aesthetic Syncretism and Globalizing Ideology in Mughal Painting: "Jahangir seating on an
Allegorical Throne by Bichitr (c. 1625)"
July 2008 Pergamonmuseum, Berlin, Mchatta Room: a two-session event organized by Vera
Beyer, director of the Research Program "Kosmos/Ornatus", Freien University, in cooperation
with the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin
First session: lecture "Solomon's Glass Palace in Qur'an XXVII/44 as Paradigm of Ornament"
Second session: round table discussion centered on Valerie Gonzalez's book Beauty and Islam
(IBTauris 2001), "Ornament as Visual Metaphor? The Comares Hall of the Alhambra",
Kunsthistorisches Institut, Freien University, Berlin
April 8-10 2008, International Forum on Islamic Architecture and Design, University of
Sharjah, ECUoS, United Arab Emirates
Keynote speaker: “The Aesthetic Dimension of the Qur’an: Verse 44 in XXVII as Architectural
Paradigm”
February 2008, CAA meeting, Dallas
Panel Transculturalism in Seventeenth-Century Indian Art
Paper: “Aesthetic Syncretism and Globalizing Ideology: Jahangir Seated on an Allegorical
Throne by Bichitr (1625)”
November 26-30 2007 International Conference on “Egypt during the Ottoman Era”, Cairo,
organized jointly by the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA),
Istanbul, and the Supreme Council for Culture, Egypt
Paper: “Ottoman Cairo: the Formation of the Traditional City (1515-1798)”
December 2007, University of Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, Department of Art History,
Comparing Islamic and Western Art
March 2006, Series of lectures in Bosnia & Herzegovina (Sarajevo and Mostar)
- Likovna Academija (Likovna Academy of Fine Arts): Aesthetic Phenomenology of a Late
Ottoman Calligraphy from the Museum of Raqqada (Tunisia)
- Filozofski Facultet (University of Philosophy): Aesthetic Connection versus Cultural
Differentiation: Comparing Islamic and Western Art
- Arhitektonski Facultet (University of Architecture): Frame of Viewing, Aesthetic Experience
and Judgment in Qur’an XXVII/44
- Fakultet Islamskih Nauka (University of Islamic Studies): The Perception of Muslims by
Christians in the Poetry of the Romanceros Fronterizos in Medieval and Post-Medieval Spain
- Museum of Herzegovina, The Founding Aristotelian Concept of Mimesis in Islamic
Aesthetics
November 2005, University of Geneva, Department of Art History
Professor Dario Gamboni’ seminar “Actualité de la recherche”
Etude comparative et transdisciplinarité comme nouvelle approche de l’art : l’exemple du Salon
de Comares dans l’Alhambra comparé à « Space that Sees » de James Turrell
November 2005, Haute Ecole des Arts Appliqués, Geneva
Une parabole esthétique comme stratégie de communication du message religieux dans le
Coran (Sourate 27, verset 44)
February 2005, College Art Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta
Islamic Art and the Rest of the World, Part II
“Aesthetic Connection versus Cultural Differentiation in the Comparative Study of Islamic and
Western Art”
March 2004 University of Toronto, Centre for Medieval Studies
Conference on “Middle Eastern and Islamic Influence on Western Art & Liturgy: Cultural
Exchanges in Late Antiquity & the Middle Ages”
“The Perception of the Muslim in the Medieval Poetry of the Romanceros Fronterizos in Spain
during the Reconquista
Professional Artistic Experience in Painting – Exhibitions
Marseille:
1991 V. GONZALEZ - M. DESKUR - KANG SOOK JA. C. SERERO Gallery,
1989 "Past-Present", TORE Association Gallery
1988 Painting and Sculpture, ARCO Association, High School of the Old Port
1988 V. GONZALEZ - W. SKODA, TORE Association Gallery
1988 Collective exhibition for the seminar:
"Realities and Perspectives of the Relationship Between the European Countries of the Western
Side of the Mediterranean and the Countries of North Africa associated with the CEE
(Communauté Economique Européenne)", Mediterranean Center of International Trade
1987 "Drawings and Painted Drawings on Paper", TORE Association Gallery
1985 "Young Creators in the Mediterranean (Algeria, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Malta, Morocco,
Tunisia), Hospice des Incurables
1985 "As Long As Painters will be", City Hall of the 9th district, Cities and Cultures
Association
Aubagne (France):
1990 Personal exhibition, Cressauds Castle
Algeria:
1987 First biennial in Algiers, "Algiers meeting point of cultures",
Verdures Theater International Art Festival
Visiting artist in the frame of the contemporary art exhibition
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Aesthetic Hybridity in Mughal Painting, 1556-1707, (in progress) signed contract with Ashgate
Publishing (ISBN 978-1-4094-1256-4)
2006 Insights on Islamic Aesthetics, Visual Culture and History/Shvatanja Islamske Estetike,
Visualne Kulture I Historije, Bilingual edition English/Bosnian language, KultB Biblioteka
posebna izdanja knjiga 012, Sarajevo
2002 Le piège de Salomon, La pensée de l'art dans le Coran, Albin Michel, Collection Chaire
de l’IMA (Institut du Monde Arabe), Paris. Project of English translation with Parlor Press,
series “Aesthetic Critical Inquiry”
2001 Beauty and Islam, Aesthetics of Islamic Art and Architecture
Published by The Institute for Ismaili Studies, IBTauris, London-New York
2006 Translated into Bosnian language by Lejla Music, Ljepota i Islam
Estetika u islamskoj umjetnosti i arhitekturi, Katalogizacija u publikaciji Nacionalna i
univerzitetska biblioteka, Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo
1994 Emaux d'al-Andalus et du Maghreb, Edisud, Aix-en-Provence
Translated in Italian and published by Jaca Book, Milan, 1994
Contributions to books
2012, “Almohad Empire” in Encyclopedia of the Empires of the World, edited by Cynthia Clark
Northrup, Facts On File, Inc. of 132 West 31st Street, New York, N.Y.
“The Signifying Aesthetic System of Inscriptions on Samanid Ceramics”(forthcoming), in
Islamic Calligraphy, Hofstra Cultural Center, AMS Press, Inc., New York
2001 "The Double Ontology Of Islamic Calligraphy: A Word-Image on a Folio from the
Museum of Raqqada (Tunisia) ", in M. Ugur Derman, 65th Birthday Festschrift, edited by Irvin
Cemil Schick, Sabanci Universitesi, Istanbul, p. 313-340
2000 "La problématique esthétique des arts visuels”, in Etats, Sociétés et cultures du monde
musulman médiéval (X-XV), “Troisième partie : problèmes et perspectives de recherche”, edited
by J. C. Garcin, PUF (Presses Universitaires de France) Nouvelle Clio, Paris, p. 167-182
Forthcoming articles
- “Confronting Images, Confronted Kings: Jahangir Versus King James I in the Freer Gallery
Mughal group portrait by Bichitr (c. 1620), proceedings of the conference, October 11-13 2011,
Casa Arabe, Cordoba, Spain “Islam and the Visual: Representation - Image – Discourse”,
Transcript Verlag, series 'Global local Islam'
-“A Certain Idea of the City in Ibn Khaldun’s Al-Muqqadima” in proceedings of the
International Symposium, Islam and the City, Corum (Turkey)
-Article 003 “Almohad Empire” 10,000 words, in Encyclopedia of the Empires of the World to
be published by Facts On File, Inc. of 132 West 31st Street, New York, N.Y.
Articles
2011 Review Essay “In the Light of Medieval Spain, Islam and the West, and the Relevance of
the Past, edited by Simon R. Doubleday and David Coleman, Palgrave Macmillan, New York,
2008, 217 pages”, in Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, Vol. 23, No 3,
December 2011, pp. 257-266.
2010, August, (In Italian) “La geometria nell’arte islamica”, in Oggiscienzia, La ricerca e i suoi
protagonisti, online in:
http://oggiscienza.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/la-geometria-nell’arte-islamica/#more-10705
2007 Entry “The concept of Beauty in Qur’an”, in The Great Islamic Encyclopedia, in English
and Persian languages, the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, Tehran 2006 Two entries
“Sheba”, “Silk” in the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (EQ), Fourth Volume, Brill, Leyden
2005 Two entries "Berbers", "Jewelry" in Medieval Islamic Civilization: an Encyclopedia,
Volume 11, Routledge, New York
2005 « Interprétation phénoménologique d’une calligraphie figurative ottomane du Musée de
Raqqada (Tunisie) » in Chroniques de Philosophie, La Philosophie contemporaine /
Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 9, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, published by
l’Institut International de Philosophie, Paris
2004 Eisenstein Prize awarded for the following article:
“The Comares Hall in the Alhambra and James Turrell’s Space that Sees:
A comparison of Aesthetic Phenomenology”, in Muqarnas, An Annual on the Visual Culture of
the Islamic World, 20, Harvard University, Brill, Leyden, 2003, p.253-278
Awarded by the National Coalition of Independent Scholars (NCIS) for the best article
published by a NCIS member between 2002 and 2004
2002 December « Universality and Modernity of Ibn al-Haytham’s Thought », introduction by
Professor Azim Nanji, in Ismaili United Kingdom, and Ismaili Canada, London, p.50-53,
Ontario, p.52-55
2001 “Les jardins arabes d’Andalousie”, in Qantara, Magazine des cultures arabe et
Méditerranéennes, Dossier special, Jardins terrestres, Jardins célestes, Paris, Institut du Monde
Arabe, p. 39-42
2001“The Islamic Tradition of Carpets in the Middle Ages through the Historical Sources”, in
the proceedings of the IRCICA International Seminar on Islamic Carpets, November 1999 (in
Arabic)
2000 "Le beau et l'expérience esthétique dans la pensée musulmane du Moyen Age", in the
proceedings of the Interdisciplinary Conference, "Le beau et le laid au Moyen Age", CUER MA
(Centre Universitaire d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Moyen Age), Université de Provence, 2527 February 1999, Publications of the University of Aix-en-Provence, p. 139-152
1999 "Pratique d'une technique d'art byzantine chez les Fatimides: l'émaillerie sur métal", in the
proceedings of the conference in Paris, May 28th-30th 1998, L'Egypte fatimide, son art et son
histoire, edited by Marianne Barrucand, Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999, p.
197-217.
1998 “Le sabil-Kuttab comme motif de l’esthétique urbaine dans le Caire ottoman”, in the
proceedings of the IInd International Congres, Corpus d’Archéologie Ottomane dans le monde,
Architectures des demeures, inscripions funéraires et dynamique de restauration", Zaghouan,
September, 9-12 1997, Tunisia, Fondation Temimi pour la Recherche Scientifique et
l’Information, p. 55-66
1996 "Naissance de l'art hispano-musulman à Cordoue: synthèse et création", in Madina, cité
du monde, Cordoue, n° 2, Paris, p. 48-61
1995 "The Aesthetics of Islamic Art: Towards a Methodology of Research", in Al-'Usur AlWusta, The Bulletin of Middle East Medievalists, Chicago, p. 28-29
1995 "Reflexions esthétiques sur l'approche de l'image dans l'art islamique", in the proceedings
of the conference La question de l'image dans le monde arabe, organized by the CNRS and the
Universities I , II et III, Aix-Marseille, 5, 27-29/1993, p. 69-78
1994 "Un objet de bronze émaillé non identifié du Musée National Archéologique de Madrid",
in Boletìn del Museo Nacional Arqueològico, volume XI, Madrid, n° 1- 2, p. 55-62
1993 "Itinéraire d'une technique d'art, l'émaillerie sur métal, à travers le monde arabo-musulman
d'Occident, depuis le Xe siècle jusqu'à l'époque contemporaine", in Habitat et Urbanisme dans
les Pays en Développement,, School of Architecture, Marseille-Luminy, n° 8, 112 pages.
1990 "Les collections d'oeuvres d'art du métal émaillé hispano-musulman dans les musées hors
d'Espagne", in Sharq Al-Andalus, Estudios Arabes, University of Alicante, Spain, n° 7, p. 195202
1988 "Notes sur l'émigration des Hispano-Mauresques en Afrique du Nord et ses conséquences
dans l'art local", in Afrique-Développement - Africa Development, review of the Conseil pour le
Développement de la Recherche Economique en Afrique, volume XIII, n° 3, Dakar, Senegal, p.
33-44
1985 "L'émaillerie cloisonnée dans Al-Andalus" in Revue du Monde musulman et de la
Méditerranée, "Al-Andalus", n° 40, Aix-en-Provence, p. 55-74
Book reviews
2010 Bosworth Edmund C. (ed.), Historic Cities of the Islamic World, Leiden-Boston, Brill,
2007, 583 p., 32 pages of maps and illustrations, in Revue des mondes musulmans et de la
Méditerranée,
2011 Objects of Translation, Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter,
Flood, Finbarr B., Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2009, 366 pages (forthcoming), in
Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée
2010 “Siobhain Bly Calkin, Saracens and the making of English identity: the Auchinleck
Manuscript, Routledge, New York & London, 2005, 299 pages” in Al-Masaq: Islam and the
Medieval Mediterranean, 1473-348X, Volume 22, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 106 – 108
2009 “Minissale, Gregory, Images of Thought, Visuality in Islamic India 1550-1750,
Cambridge Scholars Press, Newcastle, 2006, 271 pages”
Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée [En ligne]
2008 «Milstein Rachel, La Bible dans l’art islamique, Paris, PUF, 2005, 155 p.»
Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée [En ligne],
N°123 - Intellectuels de l'islam contemporain. Nouvelles générations, nouveaux débats, juillet
2008. Pagination : 294-296
2008«Willey P., Eagle’s Nest: Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria, London-New York, I.B. Tauris,
2006, 321 p.»,
Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée [En ligne],
N°123 - Intellectuels de l'islam contemporain. Nouvelles générations, nouveaux débats, juillet.
Pagination : 297-301
2007 Eagle’s Nest, Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria, by P. Willey, in Bulletin of the Royal
Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, Volume 7, Number 2, Autumn-Winter 2005, p. 265-270
2003 "Jose Miguel Puerta Vilchez, Historia del pensamiento estético àrabe, Al-Andalus y la
estética àrabe clàsica, Akal Ediciones, Arte y Estética, Madrid, 1997, 913 pages in, Bulletin
Critique des Annales Islamologiques
2001 "Gulru Necipoglu, The Topkapi Scroll, Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture,
The Getty Center Publication, Santa Monica, 1995, 395 pages, in Bulletin Critique des Annales
Islamologiques
1999 "Tatiana Benfoughal, Bijoux et bijoutiers de l'Aurès, CNRS Editions, Paris, 1997, 252
pages, in Bulletin Critique des Annales Islamologiques, n° 15, Le Caire, p. 184-187.
1998 “Ernst Grube, Cobalt and Luster, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Vol.
IX, Oxford University Press, 1994, 348 pages”, in Bulletin Critique des Annales
Islamologiques, n° 14, Le Caire, p. 168-171
1998 "Lucien Golvin, La madrasa médiévale, in Archéologie islamique, Paris, Maisoneuve
Larose, n° 7, p. 199-203
1998 “Oleg Grabar, Penser l’art islamique, Une esthétique de l’ornement, Paris, Albin Michel,
1996, 211 pages, in Revue d’Etudes du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée, IREMAM,
Aix-en-Provence.
1998 "Hamid Triki, Alain Dovifat, Medersa de Marrakech, Edisud, Aix-en-Provence, 1999,
191 pages, in Archéologie islamique, Maisoneuve Larose, Paris
1997 "Issam El Said, Islamic Art and Architecture, The System of Geometric Design, Garnet
Publishing Limited, London, 1993, 136 pages, in Revue du Monde Musulman et de la
Méditerranée, n° 79-80, Institut de Recherche sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman, Aix-enProvence, 1996, p. 304-305
1995 "Dominique Clevenot, Une esthétique du voile, essai sur l'art arabo-islamique, éditions
L'Harmattan, Paris, 1994, 233 pages", in Revue du Monde Musulman et de laMéditerranée, n°
72, Institut de Recherche sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman, Aix-en-Provence, p. 129-134
1991 "Mohamed Sigelmassi, L'art contemporain au Maroc, ACR, Sochepress Edition, 1989, in
Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée, n° 59-60, Aix-en-Provence, p. 281-283